* News & Events *

Today’s blog post comes to us from Dinesh Chindarkar, Co-Founder of our GLOBALHealthPR India partner, MediaMedic Communications.

It was a great experience to land in Sydney for the GLOBALHealthPR AGM amidst some of the great healthcare communicators from around the globe.  Sitting in the conference room at Park Hyatt Sydney overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, it was the perfect setting to meet all the partners and discuss global trends in healthcare communication. I did notice that around the world there are newer challenges that the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries are facing as far as effective communication is concerned. As the globe is getting economically stronger and flatter, health issues are dynamically changing. With increasing life spans, the global population is ageing, bringing with it new challenges for elderly care. The fast-increasing incidences of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and other afflictions are taking a toll on public health and highlight a dire need for early diagnosis and care. [Read more…] about Content, Context and the Future of Health Communication

Here in Sydney, we’ve just concluded our 2014 Annual General Meeting (AGM), the first to be hosted in Australia by our partners at VIVA! Communications. And, we could not be more excited about the outcomes! Early on, we got a heavy dose of local in-country updates from GLOBALHealthPR members, who reflected on accomplishments and challenges alike. Next, we used these responses to inform and refine our strategies moving forward. Our member agencies, from over a dozen countries, also shared the latest healthcare trends in their markets.

Most importantly, today is World Rare Disease Day and because of this we spent the greater part of the morning discussing the cold hard fact that medical research innovations alone cannot help patients with rare medical conditions. Our keynote speaker, David Kwasha, Managing Director of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, delivered a powerful message and queried why patients should be denied access to treatments for rare diseases. “Why should any human be discriminated against access to life-saving therapy simply because their disease is ultra-rare? Considering the majority of ultra-rare diseases are often the most life-threatening diseases seen in medicine, and commonly affect infants, children and young adults, we need much greater collaboration between government, industry and the general public in this exciting era in which science is unlocking breakthroughs,” said Mr Kwasha. He challenged partners to devise effective communications-driven strategies to address the dilemma of reimbursement for treatments for ultra-rare disease.

[Read more…] about GLOBALHealthPR Unites Down Under on World Rare Disease Day

Greetings from Germany!

While normally based at Spectrum in Washington, DC, I’m happy to find myself sitting in the bright, sunny offices of our GLOBALHealthPR partner fischerAppelt. Understanding and leveraging the similarities and differences between communication cultures around the world is critical to global communications success.

[Read more…] about Crossing Oceans to Build Collaboration

A post by GLOBALHealthPR Australia partner, VIVA!

With less than a month to go to the 2014 GLOBALHealthPR Annual General Meeting (AGM), we thought it might be wise to share some tips and trivia on our island home. [Read more…] about Dinky Di, True-Blue Aussie!

We had a new visitor in the Spectrum office today, but he’s coming back for good at the beginning of 2014. We’re excited about this next big step for Spectrum!

Spectrum today announced Jonathan Wilson has been named the new President of the leading health and life science public relations firm, based in Washington, DC.

Mr. Wilson resigned as President of Chamberlain Healthcare Public Relations in New York, and is relocating to Washington with his family.

Spectrum founder John Seng continues as Spectrum’s CEO, and will assume the new title of Chairman of Spectrum Science Communications, Inc. He also retains his position as Chair of the GLOBALHealthPR partnership that he co-founded in 2001, after establishing Spectrum in 1996.

[Read more…] about GLOBALHealthPR Chair, Spectrum, Names Jonathan Wilson Its New President